Politics
Nation Spends $88.6 Billion More Than It Makes, Calls It An Economy
By BSN Staff, . BSN Network. Satire.
WASHINGTON, D.C.: The United States trade deficit expanded to $88.6 billion in July, a number that economists described as "significant," "concerning," and, in one case, "fine, actually, depending on your framework," which is the academic equivalent of a shrug performed in a blazer.
The figure represents the gap between what America imports and what it exports, or in household terms, the difference between what you buy and what you sell, except in this case nobody is selling anything and the credit card has the gross domestic product of Belgium on it.
The Commerce Department released the data in a report that spanned forty-seven pages and contained the phrase "trade balance adjustment" eleven times, which is the official Washington term for "we spent more than we made again and we would prefer you not dwell on that."
"This reflects the continued strength of American consumer demand," said a department spokesperson, who then paused, seemed to reconsider, and added, "which is a good thing, we believe, generally speaking, in most contexts."
At a diner in Akron, Ohio, Gary Fenstermacher, 54, a logistics coordinator, said he was not surprised by the number. "We buy everything," he said. "I bought a thing last week I don't even know what it does. It came in a box with Chinese writing on it and a charging cable that doesn't fit anything I own. I gave it four stars."
Fenstermacher said he planned to buy two more.
Economists were divided on the implications. One school of thought holds that a trade deficit signals robust domestic demand, a strong dollar, and a healthy appetite for foreign goods. The other school of thought holds that this is the kind of sentence you construct when your job depends on nobody panicking.
"The deficit is not inherently bad," said Dr. Miriam Okafor, a trade economist at a think tank whose full name is an acronym that spells nothing. "It tells a complex story about capital flows, currency valuations, and the global supply chain. It's nuanced." She then billed the federal government $400 for the hour.
The July figure surpassed June's deficit by a margin analysts called "notable," which in financial journalism means large enough to report but not large enough to explain.
Imports rose, driven primarily by consumer goods, industrial supplies, and a category the report listed as "other," which accounted for $4.2 billion and which no follow-up question has ever successfully clarified.
Exports, meanwhile, grew more slowly, held back by weak foreign demand for American goods, a strong dollar making those goods expensive abroad, and what one analyst described as "a general global vibe" that he declined to elaborate on when pressed.
Congress, for its part, did not convene an emergency session.
On Wall Street, markets absorbed the news calmly, dipping briefly before recovering, which is what markets do when they want you to know they noticed something without having to do anything about it.
Back in Akron, Fenstermacher had pulled up his phone to check on another order. "It's a thing for the garage," he said. "Or the kitchen. It was on sale."
The package is expected to arrive Thursday from a warehouse in New Jersey that sources its inventory from a distributor in Shenzhen.
The deficit is projected to keep ticking.
The story we are making fun of: https://thehill.com/newsletters/business-economy/6070375-trade-deficit-ticks-up/